UN receives nearly $1 billion in pledges to bolster access to COVID-19 tests, treatments, and vaccines
The United Nations and its partners welcomed US $1 billion in financing – a monumental show of solidarity as governments, private sector, civil society and international organizations committed support to the Access to COVID-19 Tools- (ACT) Accelerator initiative launched by the World Health Organization (WHO) alongside international partners, announced WHO.
Recent commitments include:
· United Kingdom – £571m (US $732 million) for COVAX pillar of the Access to COVID-19 Tools- (ACT) Accelerator, of which up to £500m (US $641 million) is to support low- and middle-income countries. This includes a commitment to match £1 for every US $4 committed by others up to £250m (US $321 million).
· Canada - CAD 440m (US $332 million) for the COVAX pillar of the ACT-Accelerator, of which CAD 220 (US $166m) is to support low and middle income countries
· Germany - EUR 100m (US $17 million) for the COVAX pillar of the ACT-Accelerator, all of which is to support low and middle income countries
· Sweden – US $10 million for the COVAX pillar of the ACT-Accelerator, all of which is to support low and middle income countries
· World Bank – US $2 billion to support developing countries to purchase COVID-19 vaccines as soon as they are available (to be ratified by their shareholders)
· A coalition of 16 pharmaceutical companies and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation signed an agreement to cooperate on vaccine manufacturing and to scale up production
The ACT-Accelerator, which was co-launched by the WHO, European Commission, France and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation five months ago, needs an additional US $35 billion to realize its goals of producing two billion vaccine doses, 245 million treatments and 500 million tests. The new commitments to the initiative are welcome and will be leveraged to catalyze further funding to continue the ACT-Accelerator’s groundbreaking work.
Most urgently, the ACT-Accelerator requires US $15 billion to support immediate capacity-building—for research and development, manufacturing, procurement, and delivery systems—by the end of the year.
Convening a high-level event at the 75th Session of the UN General Assembly to urgently mobilize support for the ACT-Accelerator, Secretary-General António Guterres commended on the “extraordinary international effort to address a human crisis like no other in our lifetimes,” adding that more efforts must be made to further “deepen” the remarkable progress so far.
“It is in every country’s national and economic self-interest to work together to massively expand access to tests and treatments, and to support a vaccine as a global public good—a “people’s vaccine” available and affordable for everyone, everywhere.”
“The ACT-Accelerator—including its COVAX Facility—is the vehicle to get us there. Investing in the ACT-Accelerator will accelerate every country’s own recovery,” said Mr. Guterres who co-hosted the event with the United Kingdom’s Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, South Africa’s Health Minister Zweli Mkhize, and the Director-General of World Health Organization, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
“Science is giving us solutions, in the form of new tests, therapeutics and—hopefully—a vaccine. But science and solutions will be ineffective without solidarity,” said Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General.
The event highlighted the substantial results achieved by the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator initiative since its launch: the availability of 120 million affordable and high-quality rapid tests for low- and middle-income countries; a breakthrough in trials with, and a rapid rollout of, Dexamethasone—the only drug found to make a significant difference to patient mortality; the creation of the COVAX Facility – the global mechanism to ensure equitable access to eventual COVID-19 vaccines regardless of income -comprising 168 economies and the largest and most diverse vaccine portfolio in the world, with nine candidate vaccines under evaluation, eight of them in clinical trials.
In another significant show of support, a coalition of 16 pharmaceutical companies and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation signed an agreement to cooperate on vaccine manufacturing and to scale up production at an unprecedented speed, ensuring that approved vaccines are more broadly accessible and distributed as early as possible.
The World Bank unveiled plans this week for a significant financial commitment to support developing countries to purchase COVID-19 vaccines as soon as they are available.
The ACT-Accelerator comprises four pillars: diagnostics, therapeutics, vaccines, and health system strengthening.
· The diagnostics pillar, co-convened by the Global Fund and FIND, is focused on bringing to market two to three high-quality rapid tests, training 10,000 healthcare professionals across 50 countries and establishing testing for 500 million people in Low and Middle-Income countries by mid-2021.
· The therapeutics pillar is led by Unitaid and The Wellcome Trust. Therapeutics can play a role in all stages of COVID-19 disease: to prevent infection; suppress symptoms and spread of infection to others; treat or prevent symptoms; as a life-saving treatment for severe symptoms; and as a treatment that can speed up recovery. The aim in the next 12 months is to develop, manufacture and distribute 245 million treatments, helping COVID-19 sufferers to recover from the disease.
· The vaccines pillar, convened by CEPI, Gavi and WHO, is speeding up the search for an effective vaccine for all countries. At the same time, it is supporting the building of manufacturing capabilities, and buying supply, ahead of time so that two billion doses can be fairly distributed by the end of 2021.
· The health systems connector pillar, led by the World Bank and the Global Fund, is working to ensure that these tools can reach the people who need them.
